This blouse was super easy and super quick to make. The most time was taken fitting the princess seams, which I had to take in quite a bit. I also brought the front edges in so that it buttoned higher up as the original showed quite a bit of cleavage. Oh, yes, I also drafted new short sleeves as the original pattern had a high, narrow ‘head’ which dated it somewhat. The new sleeves are much more comfortable and I like the smoother head.

Sorry about the dreadfully naff poses, but what do you do with your arms when you don’t want them in the picture? I realise that I have distorted the blouse doing this, but then Kate Moss I’m not!

What about the thrifting? The pattern was a Charity shop find yonks ago. It has £4.25 on it, but it would probably have been 50p – £1 by the time I bought it. This fabric was originally a new single poly cotton sheet, bought still sealed in its wrapping for £3 in a Charity shop. I also bought a new creamy beige one, also still sealed in its wrapping for the same sum. I calculate that you could easily get two tops out of each sheet, making £1.50 per top in fabric.

I used 5 of the above buttons [blue/white polka dots] out of the tube of  30 buttons for £3. [There are some missing in the picture – probably in the drawer, the 30 include the one on the tube cap and of course the 5 on the blouse]. 5 of  these would be 50p, so not counting thread* I spent £2 on this blouse. Pretty cool if you ask me [and it is too].  ** I don’t count patterns and thread, which I would use again and on several projects in the cost of each individual item, whilst of course they have to be bought originally and I do count them in my annual round up of costings.

p.s. I realise that I sometimes mention  Ravelry.com when posting knitting items without saying where to find them on Ravelry. My Ravelry name is Creatifcrafts.